Job Title: Executive & Governance Assistant

Hours: Full Time (37 hours per week – Monday to Friday)

Salary: £33,495 per annum

Contract Type – Temporary – Maternity cover until August 2026

Location: Flexible (Homeworking/Office) with visits to Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.

The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) is the leading not-for-profit membership body for councils and social housing providers across the North of England, with 50 years of expertise and influence.

What we are looking for

An opportunity has arisen for an experienced Executive Assistant to join our team to cover a period of maternity leave. You’ll be working directly with our busy Chief Executive, Tracy. With your valued support, she can maximise and focus her time and energy to further support our members and stakeholders across the North.

You will also be supporting the Executive Team and Company Secretary to carry out governance support and dealing directly with our Non-Executive Board team.

This role would suit someone with experience of supporting senior leaders within an organisation. You’ll have excellent organisational, time management, interpersonal, and verbal and written  communication skills. You will also be someone who works efficiently using systems, such as our CRM, Microsoft Office and Teams, and be comfortable supporting a Chief Executive on a largely ‘agile’ basis. Ideally, you’ll also have experience of providing governance support. Whilst discretion is an essential ‘ask’ of this role, you will gain fascinating insight into the important work of the social housing sector in supporting tenants and communities.

Our staff team largely work remotely, so if you are not comfortable working from home and working fairly independently then this role might not be for you.  But we are a very friendly bunch and keep in constant touch through Microsoft Teams, team meetings, and regular face to face meetups in our Sunderland office, where you will also be welcome to desk-work if you wish.

What we can offer

The NHC is a small team, but we make a difference. We aim to offer a rewarding, supportive place to work where we invest in people, and they can be themselves and fulfil their potential, celebrating achievements along the way. We have a modern effective working environment. We have always been an agile organisation, and we continue to utilise technology to ensure work is something you do, not just somewhere you go. We are fully committed to supporting our staff to work in a flexible way that allows them to balance their commitments inside and outside of work. We want our people to work in a way that lets them be at their best, whether that’s in our hub office in Sunderland or remotely anywhere in the UK, (although you will be required to travel to our Sunderland office periodically to carry out face-to-face work with colleagues).

Through staff collaboration we have achieved a Gold accreditation for wellbeing through the Better Health at Work awards.

We value all our staff for the expertise and perspectives they bring to our organisation. We work in an inclusive way, celebrating our diversity whilst working together as one.  With this in mind, we encourage applications from all backgrounds.

  • Flexible working arrangements
  • The ability to work from a location which suits you
  • Workplace pension scheme offering above statutory contributions
  • 25 days holiday plus bank holidays (increases by one day per year to 30 days)
  • Access to Benenden Healthcare and Employee Assistance Programme
  • Bespoke training & development opportunities, including payment towards gaining professional qualifications
  • Mental health and wellbeing supportive employer including our Wellbeing hub with discounts to gyms and numerous online stores

To apply for this role, please send your CV and cover letter which demonstrates how you meet the requirements to enquiries@northern-consortium.org.uk by Friday 9th May 2025.

Interview will take place on Thursday 22nd May 2025.